From TOLEDO ALLIANCE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
The Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), has announced its 2024-2025 performance season. Subscriptions are now available for purchase by calling the TAPA Box Office at 419-246-8000 or by visiting artstoledo.com/subscribe. Single tickets will go on sale on Thursday, Aug. 1. For a full listing of events, visit artstoledo.com.
The Toledo Symphony’s Rita Barbour Kern Masterworks Series opens with Beethoven’s final symphony, his Ninth, which features the famous “Ode to Joy.” Renowned soprano Renée Fleming performs alongside baritone Rod Gilfry in Kevin Puts’s “The Brightness of Light” based on the letters of artist Georgia O’Keefe.
“We knew it would be a challenge to top our 80th anniversary season,” says TSO Music Director Alain Trudel. “What a treat to have Renée Fleming on this season’s Masterworks Series!”
The 81st season will also feature Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue as well as symphonies of Beethoven, Bruckner, Sibelius, Mahler, and Bernstein. Pianists Stewart Goodyear, Marc-André Hamelin, Terrence Wilson, and Élisabeth Pion, violinist Paul Huang, and members of the Toledo Symphony appear as soloists.
“The 2024/25 Season will be a transformational one for TAPA. Not only will we present new and imaginative programs with the Toledo Symphony, Toledo Ballet, and the Toledo Jazz Orchestra, but we will open an incredible new building that will create new opportunities for creativity, community, and collaboration to thrive,” says Zak Vassar, President and CEO of TAPA. “I can’t be more enthusiastic about the future of the performing arts in Toledo!”
The KeyBank Pops Series kicks off in January with “A Night at the Oscars,” conducted by conductor, TV and film star Damon Gupton. The series also includes “A Nashville Songbook” featuring Mandy Barnett and “The Music of Pink Floyd” performing “The Dark Side of the Moon.” Broadway star Mandy Gonzalez performs the music of Lin-Manuel Miranda featuring songs from Hamilton, In the Heights, Encanto and more. Gupton returns to conduct Marvel’s “Black Panther Live in Concert” at the Stranahan with talking drum soloist Massamba Diop. The KeyBank Pops series concludes on Juneteenth with multi- instrumentalist, composer, and producer Ray Angry with GRAMMY®-winning bassist Ben Williams performing “DEARLY BELOVED – The Music of Prince Reimagined.”
Toledo Ballet celebrates its 85th anniversary season with the world premiere of a brand-new ballet choreographed by Eric Otto, Toledo Ballet’s Artistic Director and Head of Curriculum. “I’ve had the idea for a feature-length ballet based on ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ for a long time,” says Otto. “I’m very
proud to add this new ballet to Toledo Ballet’s repertoire and I’m confident that it will be a new Halloween tradition for years to come.”
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” part of The Anderson’s Inc. Charitable Foundation Family Series, will
feature a newly commissioned score from composer Jonathan Heck which will be performed live by the Toledo Symphony. The world premiere takes place on Friday, Oct. 25 at 7pm with a repeat
performance on Saturday, October 26 at 2pm at the Valentine Theatre.
The Andersons Inc. Charitable Foundation Family Series continues with Christmas Movies at the Peristyle, a double feature of the nostalgic films “The Snowman” and “Shaun the Sheep’s Flight Before Christmas.” Scores to both films will be performed by the Toledo Symphony led by Steven Jarvi. In April 2025, Toledo Ballet will add another full-length story ballet to its repertoire with the Toledo premiere of “Snow White” at the Valentine Theatre.
The Buckeye Broadband and The Blade Chamber Series will feature five performances in TAPA’s new headquarters on Heatherdowns Blvd, adjacent to The Stranahan. The series will include music by Bach, Dvořák, Schubert, and Brahms and a family-friendly performance of The Carnival of the Animals and “Peter and the Wolf.” The Toledo Symphony brass section will commemorate the beginning of Holy Week with sacred music for brass by Bach, Tomasi, and others. The Buckeye Broadband and The Blade Chamber Series will conclude with Beethoven, Brews, and BBQ, a day-long series of performances of Ludwig van Beethoven’s entire string quartet catalog accompanied by activities throughout the building and grounds of TAPA’s new headquarters.
Special Events for TAPA’s 2024-2025 season includes TSO’s annual performance of Handel’s “Messiah” on Sunday, Dec. 8 at Rosary Cathedral and Toledo Ballet’s 84th annual production of “The Nutcracker” on Dec. 14 and 15 at the Stranahan, the oldest consecutively running Nutcracker production in North America.
The Toledo Jazz Orchestra’s Hartmann Bogan Jazz Series returns for a third season featuring five concerts at the Valentine Theatre or The Peristyle. The series opener will feature the music of Stan Kenton conducted by Alain Trudel. Guest conductor Andrew Bishop and Toledo native and vocalist April Varner return for A Very Jazzy Christmas at the Peristyle. “We are once again excited to be working with Alain for a third season as well all the other featured musicians on the series,” says Scott Potter, long-time bandmember and president of the Toledo Jazz Orchestra board. Vocalist Kim Buehler joins TJO to honor her mentor and Toledo jazz legend Jon Hendricks, and Alain Trudel conducts “Porgy and Bess – The Miles Davis Album,” a full recreation of the legendary Miles Davis/Gil Evans concept album from 1959.
The Hartmann Bogan Jazz Series concludes with GRAMMY-award winning guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli who has been hailed by the Boston Globe for “reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and re-popularizing jazz.”
Subscriptions to the Rita Barbour Kern Masterworks Series, KeyBank Pops Series, Buckeye Broadband and The Blade Chamber Series, Hartmann Bogan Jazz Series, and The Anderson’s Inc. Charitable Family Foundation Series are on sale now by calling the TAPA Box Office at 419-246-8000 or by going to artstoledo.com to view programs and purchase series subscriptions online. Tickets for Handel’s Messiah
and The Nutcracker may also be added on to any subscription at this time. Single tickets for all performances go on sale on Thursday, Aug. 1.
For complete program information, please visit artstoledo.com/subscribe. Season brochures will be available in June.
The Rita Barbour Kern Masterworks Series will feature twelve performances with eight concerts on Friday or eight concerts on Saturday at 8 p.m.
The KeyBank Pops Series will feature six performances including five at 8 p.m. on Saturday and a special Juneteenth performance at 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 19.
The Andersons Inc. Charitable Foundation Family Series will include two Toledo Ballet premieres – “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in October and “Snow White” in April with performances on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. as well as “Christmas Movies at the Peristyle” on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Buckeye Broadband and The Blade Chamber series will feature four performances on Sundays at 4 p.m. including a family-friendly program with crafts and activities and a day-long marathon ofBeethoven’s sixteen string quartets.
The Hartmann Bogan Jazz Series will feature five Saturday performances at 8 p.m. at either The Valentine Theatre or The Peristyle.
